1. Technical Field
The invention relates to populating user information forms in a computer environment. More particularly, the invention relates to the transfer of user information from a trusted source to a third party in a computer environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of services are currently offered on the Internet. Most of these services require a user to “register” before gaining access to the service. The registration process consists of the user supplying a collection of personal information (e.g., name, address, phone, etc.) to the service.
Many sites have found that users often decline to use a service because they are impatient with the process of filling out registration forms. Statistics show that each additional line in a registration form directly reduces the percentage of users that read the form and are willing to register. Optimally, it would be desirable to remove the form filling action completely, however, there is so much value (e.g., targeted advertisement) in getting a registration, that many sites persist in requiring registration (even for “free” services) knowing that it reduces the usage of the service by presenting a block to users at the registration point.
Currently, the most common approach is to not require registration. This works, but reduces the value to a commerce site.
Some systems have been developed which provide for the “sharing” of user information. The drawback to these systems is that they require the downloading of special purpose “wallet or passport” applications. Additionally, there is an even higher decline rate for users when they are offered a chance to “download” an application.
These problems greatly diminish the acceptance of downloaded wallet or passport applications. Wallet applications are not as desirable and of less importance to merchant sites, thereby making the applications less valuable to users which further reduces adoption. This means that the merchant sites do not get any data if the users skip registration. In practice, adoption rates of download based client side wallets are very poor.
Yahoo shopping and clubs allow users to transition from site to site within the Yahoo internal network without having to log in each time a new storefront or club is entered. However, the storefronts and clubs reside on the Yahoo server network.
Some SSL sites allow users to access associated sites through the SSL site. The SSL site acts as an intermediary for auto logins. The drawback to this approach is that all traffic goes through the SSL site.
Microsoft Passport is another example that supplies a button on a participating site that allows the user to login to the site by clicking on the button. Microsoft Passport only deals with the task of automatically logging onto an associated site.
Another approach requires the user to enter all of his login IDs and passwords to other sites into the host site's database. The user then visits the host site to access all of the other sites. The drawback to this approach is that the user has to reveal all of his passwords to the host site, which presents a security risk.
It would be advantageous to provide a single universal authentication system for Internet services that automatically and transparently performs the login and form filling functions for the user. It would further be advantageous to provide a single universal authentication system for Internet services that allows the user to characterize the amount of information released to a third party.